The answer to the 2nd question is it takes about 1/2 hour per day for me to read through the racing news, 3/4 hour if I decide to post some items to the forum. As to where I find the time, anyone who reads this forum spends at least an hour a day reading some non-work thing on the Internet. Sports, stocks, news, forums, whatever. They are lying if they say different.

Thanks for your effort. Keep these informative post coming. It looks llike reduced take-out it not on the horizon anywhere anytime. Another question is Hawthorne reducing their rebates from 4% to 2% on their live product?

Went to Hawthorne today and according to the live program, the November promotion is;

Triple points on live races on Thursday and double points on F, Sa, Sun. So yes, on Wednesday it's down from 4% to 2%, but on Thursday its 6% instead of 4%, a wash if you play roughly equal amounts per day.

Went to Hawthorne today and according to the live program, the November promotion is;

Triple points on live races on Thursday and double points on F, Sa, Sun. So yes, on Wednesday it's down from 4% to 2%, but on Thursday its 6% instead of 4%, a wash if you play roughly equal amounts per day.

Are you sure that isn't an error of omission? Maybe they just forgot to type "Wednesday" in the copy. The promo on the website only mentions the Triple Points on Thursday, but says nothing about the other days of the week, so I'm assuming they'd stay the same (double).

I can't imagine cutting back on less popular Wednesdays, and offering more, plus the contests, on the more popular Fri-Sat-Sun and Triple Thursdays.

Had it confirmed, sadly it is single points on Wednesdays. Odd. Don't think that'll help Wednesdays live handle any. Maybe the Triple Thursday will help that day (and overall). Guess they'll know when they look at their numbers. I'd seen enough errors in print over the years, I was hoping that was the this time. Guess iwhen I can make the $7.50-$9.00 round trip down to HAW from near AP, I'd rather do it any day over Wednesday now. I'm lucky to get down there at all, takes some doing on my part, and some scheduling luck, as it is. Yes, 2% rebate is still better than 0.4% rebate on AP/Twin Spires.

From a marketing standpoint it's a way to see if the 2% vs. 4% vs. 6% is truly moving/motivating people to a) come to HAW instead of another local entity (OTB/ITW) and b) play HAW as opposed to simulcasts.

Since in the past, they offered the double points every day, there's no way to truly measure its success. By having one weekday (Wed.) by 2% rebate, one weekday (THurs.) a 6% rebate and one weekday (Fri.) a 4% rebate, they can look to see how the money moves.

If they discover no drop off in Wed. business and no increase in Thursday business, then maybe the double and triple points aren't as big a motivator as the couple of dozen of us on this forum think.

Think of it from this standpoint --- if you have a business and sell a product, bread for example, and have a sale on that product on Wednesdays but you sell no more loaves on a Wednesday than you do on Thursday, why have the sale.

In other words Hawthorne players who have the luxury of chosing what days you go, you better talk with your wallets on Thursdays and stay home on Wednesdays or you might be kissing double points in general bye bye.